Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Seddon deposed from the Premiership; Huffington appointed as Prime Minister by the Emperor.
November 5705

Following the disappointing performance of the Conservative Party in the 5704 elections – Prime Minister Seddon’s political capital has been totally spent, the Prime Minister now finding himself in a difficult political situation – as the main representative of the mainstream conservative faction within the Conservative Party, the Prime Minister was neither pleasing his right nor his left – both of whom openly begun to whisper calls for his resignation. 

But the Prime Minister – after once again reshuffling his Cabinet in July, stated that he would remain as head of government and party leader – openly defying any opponents to challenge in a bitter leadership election. 

Unfortunately for him – the current status quo couldn’t remain, following the House of Peers’ rejection of the government’s reformed pension bill, following a revolt in the House of Peers from Conservative peers and while the House of Peers didn’t reject the Bill, it has nonetheless been delayed by the peers – unable of being debated in the upper house. 

This gridlock led to Foreign Secretary Stanley resigning from the Cabinet – in his stead, the Prime Minister appointed Matthew Baker as Foreign Secretary, a veteran MP from Shipleyriding. Baker was then revealed to have involved with an insider trading scheme on MABC shares at the Fort William Stock Exchange. Following this – the Prime Minister was attacked from both his left and his right and many high-ranking Tory MPs called for his resignation. Foreign Secretary Baker resigned as both MP and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs three days after his appointment – replaced by technocrat and veteran diplomat, Sir Alfred Johnson, after numerous Tory MPs in both the Diet and Peers turned down the role. 

The Prime Minister tried to secure his control over the parliamentary party by requesting to now former Foreign Secretary Lord Stanley to take over the role as Leader of the House of Peers, a position that the former foreign secretary – seemingly unwilling to tie himself to a sinking ship, turned down two days later. Constitutional Tory MP, Paul May announced on November 11th that he was running for the party’s leadership – having secured enough support within the party to force the 5302 Committee to act on his behalf and organise an emergency leadership election. 

Compared to usual leadership elections, held every 5 years, an emergency election only sees MPs from both Houses of Parliament being able to vote. 

Following May’s announcement, he was followed by Patrick Simon who argued that it was “time for a true conservative alternative at Crown Street”. This three-way race soon turned into a two-way race – as Prime Minister Seddon, following his meeting with Emperor William XI announced his resignation as both Prime Minister of Luthori and Leader of the Conservative Party,  

This announcement was then followed by a statement from the Palace which stated that the Stephen Young, Lord Huffington was appointed as Prime Minister by His Imperial Majesty. While a member of the Conservative Party; the Lord Huffington seems to establish himself as a caretaker minister until the next leader of the Conservative Party is chosen by his peers. 

Lord Huffington was received by His Majesty the Emperor at his country estate of Hosbury House – being officially named as Prime Minister. According to concording reports – Emperor William was adviced the nomination of the Lord Huffington by outgoing Prime Minister Seddon. 

As he left Crown Street – the now ex-Prime Minister has stated that he would “remain an MP, dedicating at representing my [his] constituents, now that I am [he was] free from the machinations of power” - seemingly hinting at a potential highly important role within the next administration and future Conservative politics. 

Prime Minister Seddon’s legacy is mixed – on one hand, conservative praises his committment to defence modernisation and his active in foreign diplomatic circles – specifically with his near-unanimous praised intervention in New Verham, on the other hand, many Tories resents the lack of effort from the government in many levels, specifically security, budget responsibility, deficit slashing. 

John Spencer, a political columnist at the Times, said that “His [Seddon’s] legacy is as follows: the left hates his guts for having handed to them yet another Tory victory and the right don’t like him because he wasn’t conservative enough.” 

The 5705 Conservative leadership election is due to happen in December 5705 – with even more candidates entering the race.